Cape Town - MPs continued to grill more candidates for the position of Inspector-General of Intelligence as they try to meet next month’s deadline to appoint the new inspector-general.
The term of office of Setlhomamaru Dintwe comes to an end in March after he served after five years. He is one of the last five candidates to be interviewed on Wednesday.
But Smanga Jele was the first candidate to face MPs, where he was grilled on issues of cyber-security and monitoring of intelligence agencies.
Parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence started the interview process on Tuesday and is expected to continue on Wednesday.
Jele, who has a record of serving in the office of the inspector-general of intelligence, said his vision is to bring a constructive contribution, building partnerships, holding the intelligence services accountable for their activities and a vision that there should be a bridge between members of the intelligence and members of the public.
“It is a vision that, should I be appointed, I will make collaborative partnerships. The main challenges is the need for the review of the oversight act (Intelligence Services Oversight Act).
“Being in the office of the IGI, one understands how the intelligence services operate.
“The challenges which exist relate to administrative challenges, HR challenges, the need for an entrenched independence of the IGI. There is a need that the budget for IGI should be non-appropriated with the budget of the State Security Agency,” Jele said.
Referring to political interference and independence, committee chairperson Jerome Maake questioned Jele on what he would do in a scenario which sees him receiving a directive from the president, yet the office of the IGI is in some way the operative arm of the committee: “You can’t be our operative arm and you do things you can’t tell us”.
To this, Jele responded: “It is not ideal. The reason why I am saying that is because the Oversight Act needs to be amended. It has lived it’s test of time. The circumstances under which it was drafted are different today.
“There should be a need to amend this piece of legislation to ensure that even the head of the executive does not interfere with the function and the mandate of the inspector-general.
“If the inspector-general cannot be seen to be independent, how can he or she execute its mandate?”
EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi probed Jele on what innovations would the new inspector-general employ to strengthen cybersecurity as he has been in the office for 15 years.
“What would be your cybersecurity vision if you were to be the IGI tomorrow? I’m asking this because you have been in the office for 15 years?”
Maake intervened and informed Ndlozi that bullying is not allowed as it seemed Jele could not provide a concrete answer to the probe.
Ndlozi told Maake: “I’m not bullying. I’m pushing.”
After much intervention, Jele responded: “The innovative tools one would apply would relate to tools such as interception tools and also some innovative tools would relate to having virtual meetings rather than going to the foreign services to connect.”
Ndlozi continued to probe why Jele thinks the committee should recommend him as the IGI when he did not present a cybersecurity vision. “What is this different thing you are going to do, particularly because you do not have a cybersecurity vision?”
Jele said: “One understands the business organisation of the intelligence services - the weaknesses and strengths. One would be in a position to assist this committee so that the IGI is able to function or execute its mandate effectively and efficiently.”
Political Bureau